On November 25, Lu Chen's first film, 'A Chinese Ghost Story', officially began shooting at the former site of Fa'en Temple in Hong Kong's Lion Rock Film City.
On December 29, 'A Chinese Ghost Story' officially wrapped filming.
The entire shoot had taken just over a month. Production had even been suspended for a few days due to an accident, making its completion at such speed a remarkable feat.
After all, 'A Chinese Ghost Story' was no cheap quickie.
Lu Chen had served as director, male lead, screenwriter, and composer all at once. The amount of effort he poured into the project was hard for most people to imagine.
Toward the end of the shoot, as they raced against the clock, Lu Chen often worked from early morning until late at night. He ate and slept right on set at Lion Rock Film City, and pulling all-nighters became a regular occurrence.
He personally hand-drew dozens of storyboard sketches, and when combined with the work he did alongside Wan Xiaoquan and the art department, the number was far higher.
Many of those storyboards came directly from Lu Chen's memories of the original 'A Chinese Ghost Story' from the Dream World. This made filming much simpler and more precise, drastically reducing the number of botched takes.
Many scenes were completed in a single take, which was one of the main reasons they managed to wrap so quickly.
Still, wrapping production didn't mean the work was done. Post-production involved complicated visual effects, editing, dubbing, and music.
Visual effects in particular were a time sink. It was completely normal for blockbusters to spend a year or more on their effects alone.
Of course, 'A Chinese Ghost Story' didn't require nearly that much work, as the production had relied heavily on practical locations and props. Even so, the visual effects budget was far from small.
Lu Chen had no idea whether they could meet their target release date of early February 2017.
For now, he could only leave the post-production in Wan Xiaoquan's hands and fly back to the capital.
December 31 was the date of the inaugural Global Chinese Music Awards.
There was no way Lu Chen could miss the biggest event in Chinese-language music.
The Global Chinese Music Awards had been formed by merging and reorganizing the Asian Chinese Music Awards and the Chinese Original Music Charts. Its prestige was unmatched in the industry, far surpassing other major Chinese music awards.
One only had to look at the organizations behind the awards to understand its stature: the China Musicians Association, China Central Television, China National Radio, Voice of China...
Five of the organizing bodies had "China" in their official titles, and the remaining co-organizers were equally impressive. Any single one of them was a titan in its own right.
The first Global Chinese Music Awards was to be held at the National Centre for the Performing Arts, with CCTV's Variety Channel and Music Channel livestreaming the ceremony worldwide.
And at this grandest of ceremonies, Lu Chen was undoubtedly one of the brightest stars.
He had secured four major nominations: Best Male Singer, Best Album, Best Lyrics, and Best Composer. Along with nominations for Best Producer and the Media Recommendation Award, he boasted a total of six nominations.
Chen Fei'er had earned four nominations of her own: Best Female Singer, Best Album, Best Stage Performance, and the Media Recommendation Award. She was directly competing against Lu Chen for both Best Album and the Media Recommendation Award.
As the ceremony drew closer, blogs were already flooded with discussions about the Golden Melody Chart. Stars and singers from across the domestic pop scene took to the internet one after another, turning the topic into a massive online sensation.
Among all the chatter, the friendly rivalry between Lu Chen and Chen Fei'er was easily one of the hottest subtopics.
The race for Best Album in particular had divided fans into three camps: one supported Lu Chen, another supported Chen Fei'er, and the third was happy no matter who won.
"Best Album has to go to my Fei. What 2016 album can even touch 'Flower Woman' in sales?"
"And wasn't 'Flower Woman' only that successful because of my Chen's songs?"
"Hehe, Best Album isn't Best Lyrics or Best Composer. Who wrote the songs doesn't matter, get it?"
"Personally, I think 'Ordinary Road' is better overall than 'Flower Woman'. Best Album doesn't just mean best-selling, so my money's on Lu Chen."
"I'm team Chen Fei'er. Her vocals are unreal. I absolutely love 'Flower Woman' and 'A Sea of People'."
"Stop arguing! Whether it's 'Ordinary Road' or 'Flower Woman', I'm rooting for both!"
According to the rules of the Global Chinese Music Awards, each category had a maximum of five nominees and only one winner.
There were none of those ridiculous "joint winners" or multiple awards that usually left people complaining about trophies being handed out like slices of cake. As a result, every single award carried immense weight.
And high prestige meant fierce competition.
Rumor had it that the organizing committee had spent an entire month finalizing the nominees for the twenty-four Golden Melody Chart awards.
As the biggest annual event in Chinese pop music, the Golden Melody Chart represented not just the highest honor in the industry, but also substantial practical benefits, including generous prize money and official promotional support.
"Have you thought about how many awards you want to bring home?"
That night, in the shared home Lu Chen and Chen Fei'er had built together in the capital's Zichengyuan complex, Lu Chen, fresh back from Hong Kong, was leaning against the headboard, scrolling through blogs on his tablet.
Dressed in a robe, Chen Fei'er lay lazily across him, playfully teasing his ear with a strand of her hair.
"Two? Three? Four?" she asked.
It was their first time seeing each other in over half a month. After spending some passionate moments together, their focus had returned to the Global Chinese Music Awards, which would be held the following evening.
Chen Fei'er had returned to the capital the day before. She hadn't finished filming her scenes for 'The Flourishing Dynasty's Long Ballad', but because she had scored four Golden Melody Chart nominations, the director had readily granted her leave.
Chen Fei'er had won so many music awards over the years that she had lost count, but she was particularly invested in this inaugural Global Chinese Music Awards.
For the first time in a long while, she had a goal worth striving for.
Lu Chen gave a wry smile.
"You think too highly of me. Honestly, I'll be satisfied if I can win even one."
He wasn't playing modest; that was genuinely how he felt.
While his six nominations put him practically without rival among musicians of his generation, every single category featured formidable competitors. There was no telling who would ultimately take home the prize.
A nomination was just a nomination. In all kinds of music and film awards, plenty of people walked away with a stack of nominations and not a single trophy. The reasons behind those outcomes were often complicated.
So Lu Chen hadn't let the six nominations go to his head. He kept his expectations deliberately low.
He typed out his answer on the screen and posted it in reply to a fan on his blog who had just asked him the exact same question.
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(End of Chapter)
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